Ice Cream Occasions
by no.lid
Summary: A oneshot documenting three major times in LilyJames relationship. Doesn't follow traditional timeline.


A/N: This doesn't follow the storyline of the books, it's just a fun little oneshot I thought of in response to a "Put Ice cream in your Story" Challenge.

Lily woke up one fine Saturday morning around her usual chipper time. Noon.

She woke up as early as she could but when your sister is keeping you up all night with her letter writing and telephone talking and teeny bop magazine reading how can you wake up at the time you want to? As it was, Lily slept half the day away, and didn't kick her sister awake until 2:00. But today she wanted to go out to... somewhere. She looked blandly at the clothes she'd laid out for herself and wondered why she'd set them out. Sure yesterday she felt like wearing that, but really, today was a purple tee and loose jeans day. Not forgetting, of course, her standard black beanie and hoodie. And her bright green sneakers; the only pair of shoes she had. She wanted more, but Petty's closetful of random, unmatching shoes didn't leave much room.

Those things really didn't matter to Lily at that juncture in time, but what did matter was a relaxing, quiet breakfast in her pj's, book in hand. She walked, or really stumbled, towards the kitchen, grabbing a bowl and bottle of milk on the way to the pantry for her favorite cereal. She set them down, and started to rummage through the family's cereal stores, not finding what she wanted. Strange, she thought. I could have sworn there was some right here yesterday. Maybe Petty threw it out as a little joke. Well, if I can't have my favorite, I'll have nothing at all.

She sighed, and turned around. There, sitting eerily next to her bowl, was the cereal she'd been looking for, as if it'd been sitting there the whole time. But she put it away. The strange incident had made her lose her appetite.

She ran her fingers through her hair after dressing, knowing she'd feel silky smooth, untangled dead cells, hanging off her head. She washed it every day, not even using conditioner, and it always turned out perfect. There was nothing she could do about it. She sighed, and finished getting ready.

She scribbled a note, saying she was leaving and would be gone for a while. As she left her house, feeling the cool wind blowing from the far end of the cul-de-sac, she saw mail in the box by the door, and decided her mom would get it.

She entered the arcade, thinking that 'anonymous' would be the perfect identity for this situation. She was not only expecting it, but hoping for it. All her good hopes for the day were dashed when she did one of her infamous trips, from standing to lying on the ground.

It was awful. Everybody turned to look at her, until they got scared of losing their games and turned back.

Everyone looked away, and she thought her small nightmare was over, until she did a quick sweep of the premises and noticed one cute boy, about her age, still staring. She guessed it was about the fall, and her face got really red. She imagined she looked like a fire hydrant. A fire hydrant with a black beanie on.

Soon her redness was not because of embarrassment, but anger. She wasn't a very angry person, but this guy wouldn't stop staring at her. She wouldn't stand for it! She swept her beanie and hoodie off in one fluid moment.

She charged toward the boy and his buddies, and demanded, "What are you STARING AT?"

"Don't get in a tizzy, chickadee." Lily turned to see who'd spoken and gasped. "I know I'm awe-striking. But there's no need to swoon or anything."

The fact was there was a terribly handsome boy sitting, here, playing a game. Very handsome. He tossed his head like a horse, flinging his hair as far as it would go out of his face, but it swung right back. "What is this idiot staring at me for?" asked Lily, unfazed by his quip.

"How should I know? Do I look like I read minds? Hmm?" "Well, is he like, special, or troubled, or something, 'cause I think he's drooling and he's staring at me."

"I personally think so, yes. Mental, that one. The right sort to go at a crowd with an axe, or stare at random homely girls." Lily went all red again, this time from embarrassment. Then this extremely rude boy got hit over the head with a loud _thwack._

It wasn't Lily, although she would've loved to hit him over the head. It was the special, troubled boy. The cute one. He had tousled hair, and pink cheeks, like he constantly was outside. Glasses, round ones that made his eyes look slightly bigger than they were, but in a nice way. His face was slightly round, but like he'd grow into it. Very nice.

The other one, however, had a jaw line that could only be described as chiseled, unfortunately. He had slightly defined arms, but not creepy muscular, and slightly shaggy, long-ish, brown-ish hair, and gorgeous blue-ish, grey-ish eyes. Nothing about him seemed definite. He looked as if he could shift between two looks very easily. Hot.

"HEY!" The hot boy screeched loudly. "What was that for?"

And I heard his voice for the first time. I knew I was in love. "Many things, Sirius. You're going to have troubles when we get back to my house, I promise you." It was warm and reminded me of melted chocolate, flowing over me. I love him, I love him.

He turned to me, and smiled . "I'm.. I'm normal. You know, I'm not special or anything. Not that there is anything wrong with that… You know."

"Yeah," I said, as much as I hate to admit it, breathlessly. I felt my heart in my throat, and my face went red. Just breathe, Lil, just breathe. "Who are you?" That voice! "I mean, what's your name?" "Lily."

"Really?" "Why would I lie?"

"I don't know. Anyway, I'm Bob, and this is George."

"Really?"

"Why would I lie?"

"I don't know, maybe the same reason as you would call him Sirius and then say his name was George."

They stared at me. Sirius laughed. "Ah. Sharp, this one. Or maybe you're just stupid. Yep. Yep, that's it."

Somebody kicked him, and this time it wasn't "Bob" or me; it was a dirty-blonde haired boy, with a closed book in his hand walking up to us. "Hello, mate. What'd we say about hurting people's feelings, huh?" Sirius turned back to his game, grumbling, "Oh bugger off. No one lets me have any bloody fun anymore. Stupid jerks. Twits."

He shook his head in mock disappointment. "Whatever will we do with you? Now, moving on. Hey, James, who's the girl? What's your name?"

I said again, "Lily. And you are?"

"The nicest person you'll meet in this group. I also go by Remus, if you're so inclined."

"I am. Well, boys, this was nice and all, but I'm a little hungry, so it's off I go." My appetite had returned once the creepy cereal box effect wore off. I decided to go get some food. But, just as I was about to walk off, "Bob" pulled my sleeve and I was spun into his arms.

"Oooh, look at James, getting his freak on!" "Shut up Sirius," Remus said, annoyed. But "Bob"-now-James just got all red and smiled sheepishly, returning me to proper standing position. "I'm sorry, I just wanted to ask, um… We were going to an ice cream parlor after this. You wanna come?"

"Umm…" I wanted to go, but would I be too nervous to talk? Would I have an allergic reaction? Would I throw up? And I haven't even eaten anything for breakfast yet! Ice cream for breakfast?

But then I looked up at his gorgeous face, and his beautiful eyes, his smile, and his voice was so chocolaty… I heard myself quietly mumble, "Yes." He lit up from the inside and I thought I'd die. I thought to myself, What is this boy doing to you, girl? Are you just about to melt so he can come with a cup and drink you? Are you going to go all sappy on me? You're supposed to be the rebel Evans, the not-sentimental one. How could this happen to me??? How????

"Come on, James," I said irritated-like, trying to make up for me going to pieces.

"The name is Bob, to you."

We walked out of the arcade and into the cold air. I pulled my stuff back on. Soon, Sirius was being dragged out of the arcade by a truly upset Remus. "You _have_ to come with, Sirius! I'm your ride! My mom said, 'Don't leave anybody behind, and don't forget to stay together,' you idiot."

Sirius looked to him. "She called you an idiot? Really? I thought only my mom did that. I thought I was special!"

"I was calling you an idiot, dweeb."

"Oh. Okay then."

I laughed at him. He turned, glaring, to me. "At the moment, I don't like you very much."

I frowned. "Why?" He seemed surprised I'd dared to ask. "Well, to be frank, you're taking my best friend away on one of my only chances to hang out with him. Remus isn't scared of you. You're pretty. Everyone's comfortable with you for some reason, I want to know why, and I don't really trust you."

Whoah. When he was frank he was FRANK. But I can appreciate something like that, so I said, "Nice one." "What?" he asked, all confused. "Well you can say anything you want. I like people like that. You're just an honest person."

"Yeah," he said, grinning. "I guess I am." I could practically hear his thoughts. I'm great. I like her, giving me compliments. Then he graced me with this little number: "I don't dislike you so much anymore."

Yup.

We finally reached the ice cream parlor, some place called 'Grace's.'

James walked up to the counter, to a plump young woman of about 17 years of age. "Hey, Grace. How's pickings?" She laughed at him, and said happily, "James, you've been watching too many old Muggle movies!" His face got slightly less pink and he said loudly, "Hey! Let me introduce me introduce my new, very random friend, Lily. Lily, this is Grace her dad owns this place and named it for her seven years ago, when she was ten."

I frowned at him. "I suppose I should be upset you called me random, but that's really what I am, so, hi, Grace. Can you tell me, what's a Muggle?"

Something dawned on her, and she looked ashamed as she said quickly, "Oh, a slang word for, um, old people. Like prunes, or wrinklies, you know." That sounded strange to me, and though I was upset they were lying to me then, I laugh about it now. "So, what'll you have?" She asked, and giggled nervously.

I sighed, and said, "Okay, I know you all know something I don't, but I understand secrets, so whatever. And I'm gonna need some time to look at the flavors." Sirius said, "We'll do the normal thing, Gracie. It comes to a couple knuts, right? God, what's this girl costing us?"

I love ice cream flavors.

It's an odd thing, you know, cause most people just have their favorite. Then you have people like me; people that try a different flavor every time you go to the ice cream place and love looking at them and tasting the difference; then you of course have people that are in the middle, as with all things.

I like ice cream flavors because they're like people. Some people, like your mom, are chocolate or vanilla, the same with every bite, in a comforting way. But sometimes it gets too boring or annoying and you need to move on. Some people are like those choc-rasp-blueberry-crunch ones that are different every time you have a taste; the kind of people your parents used to be. Like a boyfriend, or a bff, interesting people. Either way, these flavors had their good aspects and their bad aspects. You have to deal. I myself consider this a perfect analogy, but I've heard a couple scoffs when I've shared my theory. I don't share it often.

I stood, after looking at the interesting flavors, ready to tell Grace what I wanted, when I saw her trying to count strange little coins. "What are those?" I asked. She looked up, panicked. She spoke very quickly, "My little sister's play money she made it herself she's really cute what would you like?"

I must have looked suspicious. "Some avo-peach-rasp-cream please."

She looked hesitant. "Are you sure?" she asked. "It's our least popular and by far strangest flavor." "Yes," I said politely. "How much will that be, please?"

She looked back down at her strange coins and counted silently. "They paid."

I was very surprised. "Really?" She nodded and turned around to get a clean ice cream scooper. As she was scooping my strange ice cream into a bowl, I turned to search for those boys that brought me here. They were sitting in a corner booth in the back. I gave them a little wave, and James, sitting facing me, gave an energetic arm pump-thing. I sighed and rolled my eyes. Also, I blushed. But I don't like to advertise that part. I got my Ice cream, said thanks, and headed back to them.

As I sat myself down, I noticed everyone's bowl was in the middle and there were four extra bowls at everyone's place. And spoons. Mustn't forget spoons; they're very important.

"We share," Sirius said. "That's why we bought for you. So you can't object. You're welcome to any ice cream you want. Okay, boys di—Oh my goodness. WHAT did you get??"

"Avo-peach-rasp-cream. Why?" "Because NO one wants any of THAT!"

James frowned. He started weakly, "It sounds—interesting. I'll be happy to try it!" He picked up his spoon, scooped a bite, and put it carefully in his mouth. His whole face lit up, and he smiled. "That's not bad! Not bad at all!" He scooped up half of it, set it on his plate, and started to shovel it down. "You're going to give yourself an Ice cream headache. You're eating it too fast! 3, 2,1--" "AAAAHH!! Why? WHY?!" "Warned you." I scooped some of what was left into my bowl, and took a bite. Oh, this was so good. I loved it. It was creamy and fruity and there was something smooth about the taste, not the texture. "Mmmm… This is delicious." James, clutching his head, said, "I know! It's all fruity then, pop! You know? God! Try some, guys, try some!" They shrugged, and scooped up some of mine. They were all exclaiming over it's taste as I got up to leave. "Well, this was nice," I said, backing away from their bowls of strawberry, chocolate, and vanilla ice cream, "but my mom's expecting me in a bit, and I need to go. So, see you." I walked away, and I heard Sirius mumble, "You're never gonna see her again, man. We're leaving soon. You're gonna be packing--" The door shut behind me, and I didn't hear anything else.

On the walk home, I thought to myself, I won't see him, huh? Well, good riddance. I shouldn't be around boys anyway. I'm too young to care about them. Do I want to end up like Petty? Always calling boys, crying over them, sighing subtly, and being an all around idiot? No.

I walked onto the porch, saw my mom hadn't got the mail, and reached in to grab it. A really thick letter weighed down my hand as I pulled it out. I looked at it confusedly. "Mom…?" I read some more, and got really excited. "MOM! MOM!" I ran inside where she was making herself lunch.

I walked confidently into the pillar leaving my family, my world, my entire life behind. I was entering a new world, taking a plunge. I wouldn't be recognized here, no one would know me; I could start fresh!

"LILY!"

WHAT??! Maybe it was a different Lily. I don't know anybody here! I don't know any magical people!

"LILY! LILY EVANS!" Someone rushed up to me, and before I could see who it was grabbed me and took me into a big hug. "Lily! When that salt shaker started to levitate and no one would admit to doing it, I was sure it was you! They told me you weren't a witch, but I knew, I knew! You're no Muggle, you're a witch!" I recognized the voice and the hair, and I said, "Alright, alright! Get off me, you silly boy. So, you're a wizard? I shouldn't be surprised, you were strange enough. Let go!" I turned around to walk away, but before I could he grabbed my sleeve and ran, saying, "You're sitting with me!"

I walked into the old ice cream parlor that looked as good as it did the day we came in 8 years ago. A woman that looks a little like the Grace that kept those secrets from me is sitting on a stool and a little three year old girl sits in her lap. James walks in behind me, his hand on the small of my back. "Recognize the place?" He asks. "Yes," I giggle. "Come sit in the booth. I'll get you some ice cream."

He walks to the counter and says hi to Grace. He is in charge of the girl while race gets our orders, and he tickles her stomach. "Here you go," Grace says.

"Thanks." And he walks to our table. "Here. The price is double what it used to be."

"You can't put a price on our date. I won't let you," I say mockingly. "I can too," he answers. "It's 15 knuts where it used to be 10."

"Don't be ridiculous, you old cheapskate. Anyway, what kind of ice cream is this?" I ask.

"Avo-peach-rasp-cream. Lily. Can I tell you something seriously?"

"Of course, if you remember what kind of ice cream I ordered ten years ago." "Lily, ten years ago I met the most wonderful girl I've ever met. I met her in an arcade up the street, and I loved her and my friends loved her and so we went to eat ice cream. I knew I loved her the moment I took that first bite of her very strange ice cream."

I started to cry. He got a little emotional as well. "If she could know that ice cream was delicious even if she didn't have the guts to find out what was in it, I knew this was he girl for me. I loved her and every day I thought about her, until I saw her beautiful hair matching the train I was about to board. I called her name and she turned around and every moment I've been with you since then, even when we were fighting, I wouldn't give them up for the world. She was my first love. I want to have children with you, Lily, as many or as little as you want. I want a million more moments with you and most of all, I want to marry you. I want to be your one and only, till death do us part. Will you marry me?" And he took out of his pocket a little ring, devoid of a case, silver and in the middle of it was one medium size diamond with to clusters of three tiny diamonds on either side.

"It wasn't as expensive as I'd like it to be, but it reminded me of you." He put it on my finger and I looked at it.

"It's perfect." I gasped through my sobs, and we shared a wet, teary kiss.


End file.
